Battery post shim

Joined
27 May 2008
Messages
21
Location
Raleigh, NC
Have you had the problem with the battery wire connectors stretching so that they no longer fit tightly on the battery posts? Apparently it's a common problem even for a car such as the NSX. I've been dealing with it for a while. You can be driving along and the car just shuts down and then starts up again, or, you try to start the car and everything goes dark. I tried tightening the connectors, adding copper tape to the terminals but the problem would come back in a month or so. Went to CarQuest yesterday and got something called a battery post shim. It looks like a thimble made of lead and it fits over the battery post to make it slightly larger in diameter. The connectors now fit tightly. The part number is BP56C for those who are having similar problems. Or you can google "battery post shim" and you get lots of places where you can get them. Sure beats having to replace the connectors.
 
Wow, great advice/suggestion. I've had the same problem and have used my own handmade copper shims with great success, but they were always a b*tch to fabricate and fit. These sound like a great alternative. :smile:
 
I just went to my dealer last week because my NSX would start to crank when I turned the key and then sometimes it would just completely die. It would go completely dark and the radio even lost the presets and the clock lost the time.

The positive pole on my battery wasn't completely tight even though I had tightened the nut all the way. My dealer told me the battery post isn't completely cylindrical. It's slightly conical so it's a little bit thicker at the bottom than at the top. He loosened the nut on the clamp, pushed the clamp all the way to the bottom on the battery post, and then retightened the nut.

Now the clamp is on really tight and the intermittant starting problems are gone. Might be worth a try for you as well.
 
Is this problem with after market batteries or oem style?
 
OEM batteries. I had the same issue and just ended up playing with the cable until I got the end tight (similar to a previous poster). That said, I like the idea of the shim (certainly easier than all of the futzing around I did).
 
Funny I just replaced my battery with a Sam's club:redface: eveready and the banjo clamps down very tightly on the terminals.
 
As a temporary, stop-gap measure, you can just put a piece of stripped electrical wire between the clamp and post . I ran that for a year on mine until I replaced the cable clamps. I didn't even know that these shims existed! Thanks for the tip.
 
My problem wasn't with the battery posts, it was with the strap-type connectors on the battery cables. They had stretched and were no longer tight on the post. I had put in a new battery and couldn't get them tight. I got by for a while by wrapping copper tape around the posts but that eventually failed leading to the use of shims which is a much better solution, a lot easier than changing the connectors.
 
Is this problem with after market batteries or oem style?

All batteries have a tapered post, some just more then others:). Or of course if they are the side post design;).

Regards,
LarryB
 
Those cheap oem connectors are going to continue to stretch until they break. On my first battery replacement, I usually make a point of changing out the connectors for preventive maintenance. :cool:
 
Want a cheap fix for a shim? Take a lead fishing weight, beat it flat with a hammer, cut it to size (easy to do with scissors), clean it and the battery terminal well, wrap it around the battery post and tighten the clamp. Also, I recommend using the anti-corrosion felt rings around the posts, they're cheap and work well.
Happy Motoring!
 
Funny, I had the same problem a week ago :frown:
In the morning going to work, I started the car and one
second later, no power at all :eek:
No battery so my alarm went on. Impossible to find the little
key that manually stop the siren (the remote was useless).
Ten minutes later all my neighbors were out.
Finally, I found the little key and shut up that bloody siren.
:cool:
At first, I thought my battery was dead but when I tried to disconect
the positive connector it was loose. That was the problem.
I tried to tighten it but unsuccessfully.
I ended up by inserting a thin piece of metal between the
battery post and the connector and now it's tight as hell and
the car is just fine.
 
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